Barack Obama Appeared On 'Between Two Ferns,' And It Was Amazing

Tuesday

Mar 11, 2014 at 10:01 AM

Brett LoGiurato

President Barack Obama appeared on the hot seat of Zach Galifianakis' "Between Two Ferns," the Funny or Die series that parodies celebrity interviews.

Obama's purpose for appearing on the show was to promote enrollment in the Affordable Care Act ahead of the March 31 deadline to sign up for coverage. Ostensibly, appearing on Funny or Die had a specific target — young people.

Obama's appearance went well, and it was in keeping with the awkward, sometimes-cringeworthy nature of the series. Galifianakis asked Obama, who was introduced as a "community organizer," if he had plans to erect his presidential library in Kenya, his "home country."

Obama's best dig came after Galifianakis asked him whether he bemoaned the fact he can't run for a third term.

"No, I actually think it's a good idea. If I ran a third time, it'd be sort of like doing a third Hangover movie. Didn't really work out," Obama deadpanned.

Later in the interview, as Obama plugged the phone number to contact HealthCare.gov, Galifianakis said he was "off the grid" because he didn't want the government to look at his text messages.

"Do you send Ambassador Rodman to North Korea on your behalf?"
"You said if you had a son you would not let him play football. But what makes you think he would want to play football. What if he was a nerd like you?"
"Why would you get the guy who created the Zune to create your [health care] website?"
"What is it like to be the last black president?"

Here's a GIF of their final, awkward handshake:

And here's the full video:

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: President Barack Obama from President Barack Obama

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